Counterbalanced chute.



No. 663,323. Patented Dec. 4, 1960. L. .1. ANDERSON. COUNTERBALANCED CHUTE.

(Application filed July'lB, 1900.)

2 Sheets-Shaet (No Modal.)

l/l// TA/ESSZ'S Uwrran STATES rri'cn.

LOUIS J. ANDERSON, OF ESCANABA, MICHIGAN.

COUNTERBALANCED CHUTE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 663,323, dated December 4, 1900.

Application filed July 16,1900. Serial No. 23,848. (No model.)

T at whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ions J. ANDERSON, a citizen of the United States,residing at the city of Escanaba, county of Delta, State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oounterbalanced Chutes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates especially to improvements in the apparatus used for counterbalancing the slides or chutes that conduct ore, coal, or other product from an elevated pocket in a dock or storehouse to a Vessel or vehicle for transportation.

It relates, further, to a device for unlocking and raising the door that closes the mouth of the pocket.

The object of my invention is to provide for the chute or other weighta reliable and easilyoperated counterbalancing medium and also to open the pocket-door from the deck of the dock, thus avoiding the necessity of climbing down to the door to unlock and open it.

My invention consists in the general construction and details and combinations hereinafter described and claimed.

By an inspection of the drawings it will be seen that the effective weight of the chute as it ascends and descends is constantly changing, being least when up in its inoperative position and greatest when down in its operative position. I conceived the idea that the most elfective means of overcoming this variable weight was by the use of an opposing long weight or a counterweighted lever acting in the same manner as the chute itself upon a pivot at its end, and so far as concerns that part of my invention as relates to the mechanism for counterbalancing the chute this is the basic principle. As this long counterweight is divided into variable leverages, it is shown in the drawings and will be referred. to in the following description as a counterweighted lever with a suspended weight at its free end.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a cross-section of an elevated dock, showing my improvements; and Fig. 2 is an elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is an enlarged elevation of the door at the mouth of the pocket and shows the mechanism that locks and unlocks it and raises it so that the contents of the pocket will flow through the chute to a vessel or other vehicle.

A is the pocket in which is stored the ore, coal, earth, rock, grain, or other product.

B B is the framework which supports the pocket.

0 is the chute, pivoted at c, which in Fig. 1 is shown in its operative position by full lines and in its inoperative position bydotted lines.

G is the line or rope attached at one end to a bail near the free end of the chute and at its other end to the drum D on the shaft E. The drum is operated by power applied to the counter-shaft M, which bears a pinion m, which engages with gear 01 on one flange of the drum D. The main shaft E also bears a smaller drum H, to which is attached one end of a line h, the other end of which is attached to a lever X, pivoted at t to the frame of the dock below the pocket. At the free end of the lever is a weight L. The line it, which is attached to the lever at a variable point near its center, is by preference a fiat cable which winds upon itself on the drum H and so, in eifect, varies the diameter of the drum, and this becomes an element in the relative length of the leverages of drum H, drum D, and leverXt-o effect the adjustment of the weight L in raising and lowering the chute. The line it is wound upon drum Hin a direction contrary to that of line G upon drum D.

When the chute is up in its inoperative position, the rope Gis wound on drum D, while the counterweight-line h is unwound from drum H, leaving the lever X and counterweight L suspended vertically from the pivot t on which the lever works, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1.

In the operation of lowering the chute to its operative position the rope G unwinds from drum D while the flat counterweight line it is wound upon itself on drum H. As the chute descends the strain on line G increases, and this increased strain is gradually compensated and counterbalanced by the increasing effect of the counterweighted lever X as it approaches a horizontal position. For instance, when the chute is in the position shown by the dotted line 0 7' the lever is in the position i Q, and in this position the effective leverage of the counterweight is U Q, while the opposing leverage of the strain on line h is U T. When the chute is down in its operative position, these leverages are respectively U Q and U T. The compensating effect of this varying leverage is further reinforced by the increased leverage gained by the flat line It as it winds upon itself on the drum H, and it is this reinforcement that makes me prefer that the line it should be fiat rather than round, though the round line can be used by varying the other leverages described. By shifting the point of attachment of the line It to the lever X to points W W along its length the relative leverages of the counterweight and of the strain on 71 may be adjusted as desired.

Pivoted to the front of the dock at p is a lock-bar P, with handle 1)", which engages with serrated surfaces d on the end of the drum D to hold the chute in any desired posi-' tion.

To open the door 0;, I provide a separate drum N, so placed in relation to the pinion m that while the pinion is engaged with gear d on the drum D it will be disengaged from the gear on drum N.

The operation is as follows: Apply the power to the crank m to operate the drum D in the direction to lower the chute to its operative position and operate the lock-bar P to hold it there. Then shift the counter-shaft M and pin ion on laterally, so as to effect an engagement with the gear on drum N while disengaging it with the gear on drum D. The operation of the pinion then winds the line V onto the drum N, to which it is attached. The other end of this line is forked at S, one strand extending to Z, where it is attached to The door, and the main strand to Z, where it is attached to the free end of the lever O, which is secured pivotally at R to the door. This pivoted end of the lever bears a solid cross, the ends K of 7 which engage with slots in the lock-bolts F F. It will be seen that as the free end of the lever 0 is raised the lock-bolts F F will be drawn free from the holes in the sides of the dooropening, thus unlocking the door. The bolts are guided by staples r '1", attached to the door. The two forked strands of the line V are so adjusted as to their length that in the operation of the opening of the door the strain is first taken by the lever-strand, so as to draw the lock-bolts F F in advance of bringing the strain upon the strand that is attached to the door at Z. There is no interruption in the movement of the counter-shaft and pinion m and the drum N, which first unlocks and then raises the door. When the door is closed and the strain on its strand released while the lever-strand is also slack, the weight of the free end of the lever automatically operates the lock-bolts F F and locks the door. To make this automatic action more certain, the free end of the lever can be enlarged or weighted.

What I claim,is--

1. In mechanisms of the class described the combination of the counterweight lever X pivotall y secured at i and having provisions for the attachment of a fiat cable 72. at different points W, the said cable, the drum H, the cable G, drum D and chute O, substantially as shown and described for the purpose specified.

2. In mechanisms of the class described, the

L. J. ANDERSON.

Witnesses:

W. M. STERLING, E. D. BUEL. 

